Matt Seidel
Ella Jones
Mayor, Ferguson
Early in the Ferguson mayoral race, Jones embarked on a door-to-door campaign tour across the city. She met with residents, asking them to name three things they wanted to see in their neighborhoods. “It all came down to fairness, infrastructure, and jobs,” she recalls. “That’s what I based my platform on.” After losing her first mayoral bid, in 2017, the former city councilwoman became the first African-American and the first woman elected to the office in June. Jones says all of her ideas—whether improving lighting or creating a community engagement strategy—are rooted in equity.
Ryan Staples
Student, Organizer
Staples expected only about 200 people to show up for the June 1 protest that he and his friends organized in O’Fallon, Missouri. Instead, the recent Fort Zumwalt West grad was pleasantly surprised when more than 2,000 protesters gathered behind him. Even more encouraging was the participation of O’Fallon Police Chief Tim Clothier, who walked arm in arm with Staples and co-organizer Jalen Thompson. “I knew that we were doing something for the good of the community,” Staples says, “and I was so happy that we were able to share it with the world.” He’s kept the momentum rolling by leading a young voter registration drive while working with national organizations to enact police reforms. Staples plans to major in political science at Saint Louis University and one day become a civil rights attorney.
Arielle Rogers
Dr. Yemi Akande-Bartsch
President and CEO, FOCUS St. Louis
Akande-Bartsch, whose team fosters civic engagement through such programs as Leadership St. Louis, often draws inspiration from her father. While attending college in the ’60s, he “not only witnessed racism but experienced it as well,” she says. “He was always inspired by the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.” Her father persevered and earned his Ph.D., later telling his children about that adversity. “I never forgot those stories,” says Akande-Bartsch. “He encouraged me to educate, to listen, to stand up, and to speak up for the underserved and all citizens who face inequality.”
"There needs to be a really serious conversation around what our city invests in and how our city could move or reallocate funds… Right now, the city spends [the majority] of the budget toward prison, police, incarceration, and first responders; they spend [a fraction of it] on social services… It’s really about divestment from institutions like the Workhouse—taking that $8 million and putting it into housing, health care, and creating opportunities to help people get jobs. That’s what solves the root causes of those issues and ultimately defeats systemic racism injustices."
MICHAEL MILTON
MISSOURI STATEWIDE ADVOCACY & POLICY MANAGER
Robert Kirkland
President, Sysco St. Louis
Despite the noon start time, some 3,000 cars begin lining up as early as 6 a.m. for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ food and toiletry drive-thrus. This spring, in response to widespread unemployment and financial strain caused by the COVID-19 virus, the Urban League launched the drive-thrus in underserved neighborhoods across the metro area in partnership with such sponsors as Sysco, the world’s largest food distributor. As of mid-July, some 30,000 families had received food through the program. Sysco St. Louis also partnered with area restaurants this spring to convert temporarily closed dining rooms into grocery stores. “Where there’s hunger, we’re going to be there to stamp that out,” says Kirkland.
Tim Bommel Missouri House of Rep
Shamed Dogan
State Representative, District 98
When Governor Mike Parson called a special session in late July to address concerns over violent crime, Dogan pushed his fellow state legislators to go a step further and add police reform to their agenda. “Yes, we can address violent crime,” Dogan said, “but we can also walk and chew gum at the same time and address police reform.” So the Republican legislator is pressing his colleagues to ban chokeholds and curb the ability of officers to execute no-knock warrants, which he believes put both police and citizens in harm’s way. “I want officers to be as safe as possible,” Dogan says. “I think police reform is one of the ways we can do that to make their job safer, to make the profession stronger, and make people in the community realize that they need to be working with law enforcement hand-in-hand to try to fight violent criminals.”
Matt Seidel
Rhonda BeLue
Chair, Saint Louis University Department of Health Management Policy
Born in Detroit, BeLue grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. Her father, a Vietnam War veteran, is a double amputee, and her late mother lived with the effects of a debilitating stroke. Today, she sees the many ways in which COVID-19 has shone a harsh light on America’s fragmented health care system. Economic and housing disparities mean communities of color have fewer opportunities to self-isolate and disproportionately suffer from hypertension, diabetes, breast cancer, and asthma. “These previous health equity issues that result from segregation and socioeconomic issues and systemic racism are also playing out in COVID and exacerbating COVID deaths,” she says.
Adam S. Hopkins
Reverend Charles Norris
Member, Missouri Faith Leadership Council
Last summer, as St. Louis saw a rise in gun violence among youth, the pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church and his colleagues on the Missouri Faith Leadership Council began looking for ways to provide safe spaces by offering after-school activities and support. The Village Safe Spaces program launched in February, just before COVID-19 forced area schools to close. “The program had to reimagine itself within days,” says fellow Council member Rabbi Susan Talve, “to provide food, personal items, and wrap-around trauma-informed services.” Talve applauds the leadership of Melanie Forbis, Anthony Pickens, and Allisha Jones as well: “The staff has gone above and beyond the call of service.”
Amy Hunter
Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, Boeing
Hunter is a recognized community activist and voice on racial justice in St. Louis. She’s been educating others on issues of workplace equity since the late ’90s. These days, she leads diversity and inclusion strategies at Boeing, in addition to public speaking. In her TEDx Talk titled “Lucky ZIP Codes,” Hunter discusses the connection between where we live and the resources and opportunities available to us. “This is a seminal moment for the region and the world,” she said the day after activist Cori Bush won the Democratic nomination for Missouri’s First Congressional District. “There is a belief that things could change. There’s nothing more powerful than people being connected. I’m super hopeful. You cannot unring a bell. This is the moment.”
"Meaningful investments are needed in parts of the region hardest hit by COVID-19 that had been struggling for decades before it appeared… These investments cannot be driven by a unidirectional set of actions by elites, but must be co-designed with communities in which these investments are made. And all sectors must be involved, not just philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. Businesses, anchor institutions, and government need to seriously examine how their operations can support transformation, build capacity, and ultimately strengthen the region in which they exist."
JASON PURNELL
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Photography by Adam S. Hopkins
DeMarco Davidson
Member, Metropolitan Congregations United
After college graduation, Davidson walked away from corporate engineering and never looked back. Acting on a favorite proverb—“It takes a village to raise a child”—he has made a career of fighting laws that ensare kids, mentoring students through a development program that he co-founded, and, now, working with Metropolitan Congregations United. He’s been with MCU, a collaboration of nearly 60 parishes mobilizing community participation in the lawmaking process, since 2018. During that time, he’s worked to collect signatures for the minimum wage and Medicaid expansion amendments and to increase voter turnout.
Gibron Jones
Founder, HOSCO
In March, Jones received the health permit for his commercial kitchen and incubator, the North Sarah Food Hub. Days later, COVID-19 hit St. Louis—and Jones sprang into action. Working with cooks from Niche Food Group, Jones was able to provide thousands of meals to homebound senior citizens and students in the St. Louis Public Schools. As schools decide how to operate this fall, he says, the hub is playing it by ear: “If they need us, we’ll be there for them.” This month, Jones’ nonprofit, Holistic Organic Sustainable Cooperative Organization, or HOSCO, which is focused on farming and agriculture education, will also launch a virtual co-op grocery, allowing customers to place orders online and pick them up at scheduled times during the pandemic.
Mattt Seidel
Captain Byron “Sarge” Watson
Chaplain, St. Louis County Police
Byron “Sarge” Watson spent more than 35 years as a uniformed police officer, first during a career with the St. Louis County Police Department and then as an officer with St. Louis Community College. Today, he serves as a chaplain for the St. Louis County Police. He’s thought a lot about policing and race relations and has concluded that problems begin with hiring: “If you get an individual in there who did not value people of color, until they do something, you can’t really see it.” As a member of the Ferguson Commission, Watson probed the causes behind the civil unrest following the death of Michael Brown in 2014. One of the biggest problems: Ferguson and neighboring municipalities drew much of their revenue—as much as 85 percent—from court fees and fines levied on people of color ticketed for minor violations. Now, as a result of a state law that the commission helped pass, municipalities can’t keep more than 10 percent of fines they assess. “People can no longer be held in jail for a traffic ticket anymore,” Watson says. “That committee came up with tangible things that really reformed police departments.”
Darren Seals
Founder, Sankofa Unity Center
Seals has showed up at schools and handed St. Louis youth their own obituaries. He isn’t trying to be morbid; he wants to stop life-ending violence by making teens understand the consequences: “I don’t want to leave any kid behind.” He’s mentored more than 6,000 young men. “We teach them how to do drywall; we teach them how to do plumbing. We have them write letters to their unborn child,” says Seals, who makes himself available to St. Louis youth 24 hours a day. “They can call me at 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock in the morning,” he says. “If they need me, I’m there.” With a team of nearly 70 volunteers, the organization has made a significant impact in the Walnut Park West and East neighborhoods. He hopes that more people will start listening to youth. “Just imagine a kid, 7 years old, searching for happiness. How can you have happiness when the mother and father are on crack cocaine? How can you have peace if the household is messed up? How can you be happy if you’re not eating? There is an unheard cry,” he says, “and people need to start listening.”
Niles Zee
LadyAshley Gregory
Leader, QTPOC:STL
LadyAshley Gregory’s great uncle was civil rights activist Dick Gregory, but the 34-year-old says she wasn’t seeking “activist” as a job title; she just couldn’t help but speak up when she saw injustice. Now Gregory leads QTPOC:STL, a support group for anyone identifying as a queer or transgender person of color. It’s one of several groups within the Metro Trans Umbrella Group, on whose board she serves. “We all deserve the chance to live authentically in a world that doesn’t persecute us,” says Gregory, who recently joined Forward Through Ferguson and is spearheading the Racial Healing + Justice Fund, designed to invest in communities, heal trauma, and end systemic racism.
It isn’t just about everybody having a job; it’s about what they have to go through to be able to manage to hold that job. I know an awful lot of young people now, especially young people of color, who are holding down two or three jobs to try to be able to patch together enough to equal a full-time job.”
ANNA CROSSLIN
PRESIDENT AND CEO
The Grateful Lens
Tanisha Joyce
Educator
Joyce, who’s worked in education for a decade, wants students to know all of their career options. She’s worked with more than 50 companies to help high schoolers find internships, mentorships, and community service opportunities. She is passionate about introducing youth to career opportunities that they might not have previously considered and connecting candidates with companies. “Part of what I’m interested in is breaking down barriers, so companies can understand how talented young people are,” Joyce says. Her advice for getting involved: Parents and teachers should familiarize themselves with school policies and attend school board meetings to advocate for their students and themselves.
Mary Ferguson
Racial Justice Consultant, YWCA Metro St. Louis
In recent months, Ferguson has fielded calls from people across the country who are interested in the program that she oversees, Witnessing Whiteness, a workshop designed by former YWCA racial director Amy Hunter (p. 49) and based off a book by the same name. The program helps participants understand racism and white privilege. “I’ve heard from people in New York, Tennessee, Georgia, all wanting to know if they can join since we are doing it online now,” she says. “I think the work is important because I understand my humanity is impacted by racism,” says Ferguson, whose other programs at the YWCA include a Black women’s support group and Catalyst Circle, a neighborhood program. Ferguson’s advice: “Show up. Speak up. Work where you are. Make this a priority.”
Matt Seidel
Jamala Rogers
Executive director, Organization for Black Struggle
This year, the human rights coalition that Rogers helped start four decades ago has been part of a statewide movement that collected more than 350,000 signatures to get Medicaid expansion on the August statewide ballot. The organization has helped raise funds for Missouri inmates to stay in contact with family and legal advisers while incarcerated, and it’s raised awareness of the toll that COVID-19 has taken on Black communities. “You have to be grounded in the community and the issues, and you have to push those issues in the most powerful and profound ways,” Rogers says. “I think the fact that we’re still here after 40 years means that we’ve done something right.”
Will Jordan
Executive Director, Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council
According to the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, every American has a right to secure housing without discrimination. Jordan has spent nearly 20 years with the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council working to make that right a local reality. In a city where life expectancy is strongly correlated with ZIP code, he wants to see people either be able to change their ZIP code or change the circumstances within it. Jordan has collaborated with community banks to develop credit products for underserved populations, offering legal counsel to those facing discrimination and securing affordable housing in redeveloping areas. “Home ownership is the biggest wealth-building tool most Americans have,” Jordan says. “It should be preeminent in St. Louis, because the housing stock is strong and opportune.”
Mark Katzman
Maxine Clark
Founder, Delmar Divine
One day while driving, Clark took a wrong turn. The Build-A-Bear founder, who left the company in 2013 to focus on her work improving public education, found herself at a vacant building. It was once the St. Luke’s Hospital on Delmar...and there was a “for sale” sign. Now Clark is on track to open Delmar Divine—the name a take on the Delmar Divide—in that space in fall 2021. The $100 million mixed-use project will feature both a nonprofit hub and 150 affordably priced apartments to support community development and improvement. “I know how much talent exists in this community,” she says, “and I know that we have a great future ahead of us if we just unlock that talent.”
"We’re all in the same boat. Some may be in the front, some may be in the back, but whatever happens to that boat happens to all of us. We’re all going in the same direction… [We should be] concerned about the welfare of everyone—not that everyone will end up in the same position but [instead] that everyone should have the opportunity to live their best lives."
FLINT FOWLER
PRESIDENT
Jamie Dennis
Director, Save Our Sons
As the region fell into the throes of a global pandemic this spring, Dennis helped the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis coordinate a drive-thru distribution of food and essential items for families in need. His usual focus on the Urban League’s Save Our Sons program, a career training initiative for economically disadvantaged Black men, seemed to be on hold, but all that time spent outside gave Dennis an idea for how to continue Save Our Sons’ core mission despite the pandemic: a series of socially distant open-air hiring events at the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center. Instead of a typical sprawling career fair, Dennis helped organize small groups of qualified candidates to meet with staffing companies and community partners. “I believe that is the way of the future until we get a wrap around this COVID-19 crisis,” Dennis says.
Izaiah Johnson
Gloria Nolan
Campaign Coordinator, Ready by Five
As the mother of two young kids, Nolan knows how expensive and difficult it can be to find solid early childcare and education. She hopes that will change with Ready by Five, a November 2020 ballot initiative being promoted by the grassroots organization WEPOWER and the Tomorrow Builder fellows. It would add a half-cent sales tax in St. Louis County to fund early childcare and education. “ECE was in financial trouble before the pandemic, and now the system has been devastated,” says Nolan. “This would generate millions of dollars each year for public schools and community-based providers to decrease the financial burden on families and raise program quality.”
Ohun Ashe
Founder, For the Culture STL
After the 2017 protests in the wake of the Jason Stockley case, Ashe wanted to support Black lives by amplifying Black-owned businesses. She created For the Culture STL, an online directory of more than 200 local Black-owned businesses. Since its launch, in 2018, the website has received views from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. For the Culture STL also produces a biannual catalog promoting Black-owned businesses worldwide and holds events where its businesses are the vendors. Ashe recently launched an interactive map showing every business in the directory to make things even easier for patrons. She says one of the biggest ways people can help is to use their dollars and social media to uplift Black businesses and help them succeed. “Activism,” Ashe says, “is more than just protest.”
Lindy Drew
Julia Ho
Leader, Mutual Aid Network
When the pandemic began, Ho says, “it became obvious that all the problems that already existed in our community were going to get worse.” At press time, the Mutual Aid Network—more than 1,000 people who support one another by providing supplies, funds, and emotional support—had distributed more than $345,000. “It’s easy to feel powerless by everything that’s happening,” says Ho, “but there’s always something you can do.”
Pam King
Chapter Leader, Our Community Listens
King regularly brings people together to have authentic conversations as part of Our Community Listens. “We teach an interpersonal class that allows people to learn who they are in the world and how they can create connection with others who may be different,” says King, who served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years. Students range from nonprofit directors to CEOs, ages 19 to 75. King says the classes “ignite this human-to-human connection.” Her advice: People should work to find things they have in common with others instead of differences. “Then listen to that person,” King says. “Allow them to share, and don’t justify or argue. Just listen and learn from their experiences.”
"The region would be better prepared to weather a pandemic by expanding health care and accessibility to health care resources, bridging the digital divide, improving public transportation, and improving job opportunities… We would have to make a significant investment in health care; place facilities and resources in underserved communities; fund public transportation at a higher rate; and make a conscious and consistent decision to value diversity and inclusion at the governmental, corporate, business, civic, and philanthropic levels in order to remove the barriers."
MICHAEL MCMILLAN
PRESIDENT AND CEO
Raychel Proudie
State Representative, District 73
Illegal dumping has long been a problem in Kinloch, where heaps of refuse adorn city blocks and spill from vacant lots into the streets. In 2018, when Proudie ran for the District 73 seat in the Missouri House of Representatives, she vowed to change that. “It was a campaign promise to bring attention to the situation in Kinloch, period,” says Proudie, the only Democrat in the House to chair a committee, the Special Committee on Urban Issues. On July 11, Proudie made progress toward that goal, organizing a citywide cleanup event.
Frank Bell
Executive Director, Elevate St. Louis
Bell knows the power of candid conversation. The program partners with schools to provide underserved students with long-term support and guidance. Asked what he believes could help move the region forward, Bell challenges local media outlets to shine a light on efforts to engage in courageous, difficult conversations. “Everyday people like me are talking about systemic racism and discrimination in mixed company,” he says. “My sense is that most in our region aren’t aware that many of their neighbors are creating the grace and space needed for one another to work through feelings, ideas, and thoughts about the racial disparities. I’m seeing firsthand that trust and love emerges when a person is afforded the opportunity to work through their ignorance instead of being shouted down for it… I am seeing more common ground created. More attention placed here may help St. Louisans develop the courage to share, listen, and act.”
Redditt Hudson
Court Diversion Specialist, St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office
After serving in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in the ’90s, Hudson traveled the nation as racial justice manager for the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and as field organizer for the NAACP’s national office. Today, he works as a court diversion specialist in the office of Circuit Attorney’s office. “We have to come to grips nationally with what has been the societal fracture in our country since its inception,” he says, “and that has to do with race… Our responsibility is to address this reality honestly.” Hudson disagrees with those calling for the abolition of police departments, with an important caveat: “The starting point has to be accountability.” Despite the negative things he’s heard and experienced during his career, Hudson says he has hope for the future: “I think we’re more ready now. It’s a new world.”
Lindy Drew
Erica Henderson
Executive Director, St. Louis Promise Zone
As the executive director of the St. Louis Promise Zone, Henderson works with more than 100 partners to provide services to a 60-square-mile portion of North City and North County. She also oversees the Small Business Resource Program, which has provided zero-interest loans to local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We can already see the impact that the lack of adequate health care has had during the pandemic in our economically undervalued communities,” she says, “and we know that if we improve our educational institutions, children will have more opportunities to be upwardly mobile, getting jobs at companies that have benefits.”
"We have a choice to make,” Strode recently wrote in an essay titled “Our Crisis” that was posted on Medium.com. “We can deepen our crisis by doubling down on failed systems and racist policies, or we can respond to it by transforming our public institutions and investments to recognize the fundamental humanity and dignity of Black people in a way that America never has before. We should choose wisely, because it will determine whether this crisis, our crisis, becomes an artifact of history, or a harbinger of an even more deeply troubled future."
BLAKE STRODE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kevin A. Roberts
Dr. Yusef Scoggin
Director, St. Louis County’s Office of Family & Community Services
In early 2019, a census showed that 27 individuals in St. Louis County were “unsheltered”—i.e., sleeping on the streets—while almost 500 were staying in emergency or transitional housing. These numbers could explode this year or next, however, if the economy doesn’t bounce back from pandemic-related shutdowns. Scoggin is watching closely. As director of St. Louis County’s Office of Family & Community Services, he oversees the county’s response to homelessness. He and his colleagues have arranged for the unhoused to get tested for COVID-19. They’re also contemplating how best to address a potential wave of eviction proceedings.
Dr. Marcus Howard
Entrepreneur
After moving away to earn a Ph.D. and teach, Howard, who grew up on St. Louis’ north side, always knew he wanted to return home. But he wanted a comeback with purpose. Now, Howard has it: launching a Black-owned pharmacy and wellness center to provide culturally competent health care, scheduled to open in summer/fall 2021. African-Americans here are disproportionately affected by conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and infectious diseases like COVID-19. Black-owned pharmacies provide services like genetic testing, medication education, and weight loss programs to improve health outcomes. “It’s specific things that focus on what communities of color are experiencing,” Howard says. “[At a chain pharmacy], you walk up, you get your medicine, and you walk away. For communities of color, that’s not enough.”
